Acer India Pvt. Ltd. / Major manufacturing defect and issue with service centre

I happened to purchase an Acer Timeline X : Model no: 4820TG on the 16th of july 2010 from Croma Electronics store in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and after just two months I am facing problems that I never expected from a reputable brand like Acer.

For the past two –three days I started observing a quirky sound which came when I would try to open or close my laptop, and after close examination I found that the back panel had started coming off and as anyone would, I went to Croma –Vashi from where I happened to buy the product.They directed me to your Service Centre where I encountered appallingly irresponsible behavior from employees of your service centre at Vashi, Navi Mumbai .They not only blamed every liability on me but also tried fixing the back panel with something as juvenile as a fevi-quick. I think I could have stuck it with feviquick myself and would have done a better job! They returned the product to me in a more mottled condition.

On asking the service centre why they tried fixing it with fevi quick without my permission they didn’t have any proper answer, tried to avoid me completely and asked me to pay me the sum of Rs.3000 to replace the panel that they damaged completely while trying to fix it with fevi quick.

I can assure you that the laptop has not been manhandled in any case whatsoever, as it has been treated with heed and maturity. Also there are no signs of any tampering, cracks or any sort of signs of physical damage. The body panel has started opening up due to some manufacturing defect in the factory and maybe the adhesive coming off for reasons best known to you.

But after being preposterously treated by your service people I am sure this is going to be a hard task for me to get my laptop fixed. I do not intend to pay the exorbitant price that the service centre claims to repair the body panel.

I have attached the receipt of service and a few pictures of the current condition of the laptops which was not the actual condition when I gave the the laptop to the service centre. The initial problem was only a small minor gap between the joints of the aluminum panel which I am sure was a manufacturing defect.But due to the untrained behavior and the manner in which your technicians handled my laptop it has ended up in a much worse condition .

I expect that you will help me out in a sensible manner and not act irresponsible and unprofessional like the technicians at your service centre. I am writing this mail with lot of positive hope .I would want an immediate redressal from your side failing which I would be compelled to move to the consumer court. According to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, I can lodge A complaint for infringement of consumer rights under the following circumstances in the nearest designated consumer court, which in my case happens to be in CBD, Belapur.

* The goods or services bought by a person or agreed to be bought by a person suffer from one or more deficiencies or defects in any respect.

Here I would also like to mention that I am a mass mediastudent and working as an intern at a major news daily in Mumbai.I hope you understand the significance of a pen and paper. There are your competitors waiting to toss you down in this highly competitive market. I promise to let all this with photographic images and reference to prove the shoddy customer service you provided. I hope you understand the situation, you not only loose a customer for ever. The newspapers would be flooded with negative PR reports all over which would ruin your image to no extent. I am not claiming this on my individual strengths but on the fact that these electronics giants would never let go such a golden opportunity to rip a competitive brand.

I am also a senior founding member of Indian's no.1 Technology community forums namely www.techenclave.com which has a current member base of 50, 000 + tech enthusiasts and buyers looking for advice. I can tell you that a lot Acer general market sale are dependent on the expert opinions of members on our site.Till date we have recommended Acer as the most value for money brand in India to a lot of customers. But if the after sales service of such a big brand is so pathetic I will surely bring this up on our forums and make sure we don't recommend your brand to anyone in the future.

I do not intend to do any of these but I hope you do not test my patience as a consumer to take this matter from a minute service redressal issue to a major image tampering one.I hope you understand the importance of the problem faced by me as a consumer.

^^ Sorry to burst your bubble but I already got a call from Acer yesterday and things have been sorted out .They have agreed to replace the complete panel free of cost. And yes this laptop doesn't belong to me, it belongs to a fellow classmate and a newly registered Techenclave member. You don't realise it but if you approach us politely and in a humanly manner people on the site will go all the way to help you out .What you did on the site was not utterly disgusting .Creating a scence just cause someone didn't reply to your query quickly. You sir just don't have an idea of a community forum works.

You know sir, Techenclave is a free technology community .The way you acted there as if you were paying for its services and advice of the experts, was really stupid .Anyways lets not get there. If you have issues sort it out on the forums .If you dont like it there, no one is forcing you to join you or stay there. We have always seen to it that people on the forums follow rules while posting .The members who reply to tech support are people with very high knowledge of particular field. Your query might have been left unanswered because a member with particular expertise wasn't online then . No on the forums is allowed to post half baked answers or assumptions.

The members over there insulted you because you were acting like a 10 year old kid who thinks because he is registered on a free community forums he is entitled to 24 X 7 tech support. You sir seem to have lost one of the most essential virtues needed in today's world - PATIENCE.

Sorry for your bad experience but if you could have acted a bit more maturely, things wouldn't have turned so ugly for you .In the end its you who created a bad image for yourself not the site. The site remains to be one of the top Tech community in India .

No, I'm just concerned that you're threatening Acer over their sales because you "think" your community generates sales for Acer. I am shocked to know that TE founding members try and get RMA done faster by using this as leverage, and that is something worse than I could have ever imagined. Whether or not you have your PC fixed is not my concern. I'm just happy to know that you're not ethically right for talking like this. Saying that you actually contribute to Acer sales and theatening them is insane!!! :)) I'm happy you make this huge post, because it shows how little you think and how much you like to speak. Kudos techenclave. I shall warn Prime ABGB of this behavior too.

It is funny, when I asked TE members that they should give me a bit of guidance, most of them told me that it wasn't their duty or their job and that TE doesn't pay them.

But it is hilarious, that a TE founding member is threatening Acer to listen to him because his website generates sales for Acer. Lol. I wonder if you will understand how stupid and immature you all are. Do you actually believe that was ethically right, or even mature of you to say that???

I'm never going to post this in the forums. But I want you to know that inspite of running that website for years, you've lost all humility and responsiblity. You've become egoistic, money oriented, and very unhelpful and I have been noticing that a lot.

I might be wrong in many ways about how I posted, but you all are so high and mighty, that you couldn't even show a bit of humility to help me back. Instead all that happened. Contradictorily, you are here doing the exact opposite!!! :o

Should the thread starter have raised a complaint about the faulty product he recieved. YES.

He has every right to complain about a faulty product which was given to him by a company who claims to be The best laptop manufacturer and is not.

Should he have used leverage to be heard, I don't see why not. Companies use their Terms & Conditions and the infamous "*" next to every claim and quote and use fine line print to sell their products. They use black suits and corporate and legal jargon against any demeaning claims made against the company in the court of law.

When a customer threatens a company who is not doing their job right, I believe the customer has every right and is empowered to use any means necessary as long as it is ethical to bring them to light. I believe the only thing the Thread starter has done is to threaten to bring Acer's shabby service, product and customer service to light. Which I believe is the right thing to do.

Hmm, he said that techenclave generates sales for Acer. You can read it for yourself. I think what companies put in their terms and condition is of no consequence to you guys, since you guys (in your own words) "use any means necesaary" to get your job done. If members of TE are using TE to withold sales to Acer, then it's amazing. You are no less than those companies you are despising right now.

Im curious as to what other members of TE will have to say when you tell them that you used your position to tell Acer that you can affect their sales. Acer depends on you guys to sell its Computers? You have statistics to prove that Acer made a quarter profit this fiscal year because of your posts on TE? :o How immature and stupid.

If you have something mature to tell me, then by all means do! But if you're going to pass personal insults, abuses, petty and childish teasing, taunting, and punching around, then stop. It is only giving other people a bad opinion about you. That is why most of them only visit once or twice to ask a config and then never visit. Because TE is not a knowledge sharing website, it is a mindless fan-club, and only a few are left to enjoy it.

I hope you will stop now and prevent any further damage to your image. It's already tarnished. You guys cannot take the slightest of criticism, and to learn how to do that requires a lot of pain. When you do, you will learn how to talk in a civilized and decent manner.

Typical reply. I can't stand you TE fanboys at all. It takes me a few minutes from my day to come here and post. The TS was getting booty points. It was some girl's laptop. I've had enough of you guys also, but that doesn't mean that I can't warn people by telling that TE is just a rich brat's party where they cannot take even a sentence of criticism. You guys have shown ample of maturity, and I tend to make it known.

TE members will use unethical means to get their work done, and also, use unethical means to suppress all criticism on their webpage.There should really be laws against you people to prevent other people from getting hurt and insulted.

I'm using your posts, your threads to ask you questions, but I've only been told something like "You suckkzzzz, we rocckzzz". If anybody in the future reads this, he/she should atleast know what mannerless and rude moderators and members infest TE. If I can avoid somebody else the pain of TE, then I'll be posting and giving them more proof of your dictatorship skills on TE and the www, as we have all seen on Acer and Tata.

I hope to get others rid of several problems by telling them to avoid TE at all costs.